Washington D.C., Jul 26, 2019 / 16:05 pm
The Catholic Church's teachings on economics and government have a tendency to frustrate anyone committed to a political ideology. The Church has condemned both unrestrained capitalism, as well as communism, socialism, and totalitarianism.
But a column recently published in America Magazine, entitled "The Catholic Case for Communism", by Dean Dettloff, has resurrected questions about whether it is permissible for a Catholic to be a communist.
"Christianity and communism have obviously had a complicated relationship," Detloff wrote, arguing that even though "communist states and movements have indeed persecuted religious people at different moments in history," Christians have been "passionately represented" in communist movements.
"These Christians, like their atheist comrades, are communists not because they misunderstand the final goals of communism but [sic] because they authentically understand the communist ambition of a classless society," he wrote.